Newton artist gives away a lifetime of artwork, helps anti-gun group

Friday

May 11, 2018 at 3:39 PMMay 11, 2018 at 11:37 PM

Julie M. Cohen jcohen@wickedlocal.com

It’s not every day an artist gives away 500 original creations, but that’s precisely what longtime resident Eleanor Rubin did ahead of moving from the home and studio she’s occupied for almost 50 years.

Rubin offered the pieces, including prints (woodcuts, etchings, lithographs, collagraphs), collages, watercolors and drawings, during her “Bidding Farewell to My Studio” event held on the last weekend in April. Rubin, 77, and her husband, David, 80, decided it was time to downsize for several reasons and move to a smaller home with the option of long-term care should they need it. Although they had hoped to stay in Newton, they found what they were looking for in their price range in Canton.

“Archiving and storing one’s own lifetime of work is a problem many productive older artists face and this was my creative solution to the problem,” said Rubin by email. She estimated that about 100 people, including neighbors, friends and patrons, stopped in.

The visitors gently sifted through the files, opening up packets of prints as if they were gifts, eager to view each new surprise. Some looked for presents for family and friends, while others aimed to decorate their own living spaces. Several people became emotional as they looked at the variety of works, hugging Rubin as they witnessed the end of an era.

In addition to giving away her art, Rubin aimed to help a cause she values. So, in lieu of paying for the art, she suggested people make donations to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

As of last week, Rubin said she was “overjoyed to have raised more than $6,000. … Checks are still coming in and I think the total may well have reached $8,000 but it will be a while before I know for sure.”

Creative ways to downsize

“Downsizing is some of the hardest work I’ve ever done and I feel fortunate that I am ‘young’ enough to sort and pack and re-arrange our lives and that we have the resources we need to make this move,” said Rubin. “Downsizing and choosing a new home is also an adventure ... a bit like going off to college. I feel very optimistic.”

Rubin and her husband not only had to whittle down their belongings in their quaint red house, they had to tackle the stacks of artwork in her studio, located in a barn behind the home.

Luckily, in 2017, Rubin found a new home for her massive American French Tool Press, after donating it to Pine Manor College. The press was described as a “behemoth” weighing in at 2,620 pounds, according to a Boston Printmakers newsletter,

While paper is infinitely lighter than a massive metal press, figuring out what to do with the sheer number of pieces was a challenge.

Rubin said she “discovered that I had made far more work than I ever imagined. The event in my studio evoked words of interest. It elicited heartening accolades and many farewell-good wishes. It also helped to send hundreds of artworks of mine out into the world with people who were able to attend.”

Before the studio event, she arranged for some work to be accepted into permanent public collections. Rubin said she estimates she’ll need to store 60 sketchbooks full of watercolors and more than 1,000 other works on paper, including prints, drawings and watercolors. She’ll rent storage for folders and framed work until she figures out long-term solutions, she said.

In addition, she has also given pieces to The Art Connection, “a Boston organization which accepts work from older artists and distributes it to community organizations: homeless shelters and other kinds of social service venues,” said Rubin.

Looking to the future

When asked if after downsizing and moving she’d still be creating new pieces, she said she’d continue making art on paper using stencils, watercolors, woodcut tools and other drawing materials.

“I love to experiment with paper folding. All my artwork is experimental and I anticipate that a new venue will inspire me to make new kinds of artwork,” she said.

“My artwork arises from a combination of observation and imagination. It is influenced by music (I am a cellist and grew up in a home filled with chamber music). Printmaking allows me to create series of related images, somewhat like musical improvisations on a theme,” said Rubin.

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston owns two black-and-white woodcut prints Rubin created in the mid 1980s. Her work is also in the Boston Athenaeum and the Boston Public Library’s permanent collection, she said.